Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 16, 2020 8:56:38 GMT -8
1930’s The Big House is not to be taken too seriously. It’s got gaps here and there, especially in logic. But what it does have is one of the best weasels ever seen on screen.
Robert Montgomery plays the weasel, Kent Marlowe, who has been sent to prison for manslaughter (he was drunk while driving). Even some of the screws recognize that throwing him into a cell with the truly hardened criminals is asking for trouble.
That hardened criminal is Machine Gun “Butch” Schmidt (Wallace Beery). He’s a ringleader in the joint and thoroughly nasty, but in a sort of jolly-fellow sort of way. The third man in their cell is John Morgan (Chester Morris). Morgan isn’t looking for trouble (or to join in on the jailbreak that Schmidt has planned) because he’s nearing his served time.
That’s where the weasel, Kent Marlowe, comes in whose weaseling causes all kinds of trouble. The strange parallel universe (hole in logic) comes when John Morgan intersects with Kent Marlowe’s beautiful sister, Anne Marlow (Leila boom-boom Hyams).
I thought I had fallen asleep or something when the movie went from…well, I’d have to give away too much of the plot to put that into context. But I just have to believe there was about 10 minutes cut out of the film in the middle of it.
Yeah, this is sort of a poor man’s Cagney film. But it’s a hoot nevertheless. It’s an iconic-style 30’s film. They don’t make them like this anymore. And maybe they shouldn’t. But it’s a great time-capsule of a movie.
Robert Montgomery plays the weasel, Kent Marlowe, who has been sent to prison for manslaughter (he was drunk while driving). Even some of the screws recognize that throwing him into a cell with the truly hardened criminals is asking for trouble.
That hardened criminal is Machine Gun “Butch” Schmidt (Wallace Beery). He’s a ringleader in the joint and thoroughly nasty, but in a sort of jolly-fellow sort of way. The third man in their cell is John Morgan (Chester Morris). Morgan isn’t looking for trouble (or to join in on the jailbreak that Schmidt has planned) because he’s nearing his served time.
That’s where the weasel, Kent Marlowe, comes in whose weaseling causes all kinds of trouble. The strange parallel universe (hole in logic) comes when John Morgan intersects with Kent Marlowe’s beautiful sister, Anne Marlow (Leila boom-boom Hyams).
I thought I had fallen asleep or something when the movie went from…well, I’d have to give away too much of the plot to put that into context. But I just have to believe there was about 10 minutes cut out of the film in the middle of it.
Yeah, this is sort of a poor man’s Cagney film. But it’s a hoot nevertheless. It’s an iconic-style 30’s film. They don’t make them like this anymore. And maybe they shouldn’t. But it’s a great time-capsule of a movie.